Create a Summary or Crosstab Report

Summary reports help you look at your QuickBase data in an informative
and meaningful way. These reports group and total records so you can see
patterns and get answers to questions. Read
more.

To create a summary report:

Open the QuickBase Report Builder page.

You can do so in one of the following ways:

In the menu bar on any application page, select Customize
> Create a new > Report. Then select the
table whose records you want to view.

In the table bar
on any application page, click the name of the table that you
want to create a report for
and within the menu that appears, select Create a New
Report.

In the dialog, select Summary
and click
Create.

Select the values you want to show in your summary report.

Within the Summarize Data section, select the fields
whose values will comprise your report. These fields will appear as
columns in your summary report. Fields that appear in this dropdown
list are always numeric because only numeric fields can be summarized
(meaning totaled, averaged or otherwise calculated).

For each field you choose to show, set summary and display
options (Read how in Steps 4 & 5).

For each field you selected within Summarize
Data, tell QuickBase what kind of calculation you want the
program to perform on these values:

Std. Deviation.
The standard deviation tells you how spread out values in the
set are from the average or mean. (Read more
at Wikipedia.)

Note: Each value that
displays within a summary report is a calculated value. In other words,
it represents multiple records grouped by row (unless there's just
one in a set for some reason).

The first row in this summary report is a group of opportunities
with the status Lead. The rightmost column tells you that there are
four opportunities in this
group. The Deal Size column totals all four. You can tell that this
column is set
to Totals (not Averages or another option) because
the column heading contains (tot).

If you want, have your data summarize figures in a different
way.

You may care more about comparing data than totaling values. For
example, when deciding on bonuses you don't necessarily want to know
how MANY deals a sales rep closed. Instead you'd like to see what
percentage of your business that person brings in. To get numbers
like this, you can have QuickBase show percentage values rather than
regular numbers.

For each field you chose in Step 3, click the Display As
dropdown and select one of the following values:

Normal Value.
This setting is no different from the report you'd get if you
make no selection in this dropdown.

Percent of column total.
This option shows each value as a percentage of the column. In
other words, QuickBase totals values by column and calculates
the percent each value contributes the whole at the bottom of
the column.

Percent of crosstab column.
Choose this if you want to know what percentage of each row
the value represents. In other words, QuickBase totals figures
by row and calculates the percentage each value contributes to
the whole, which is totaled on the right. (You can only select
this option after you turn on crosstabs. See Step 8.)

The Percent of crosstab column setting,
shows the percentage each crosstab column represents as part of
the total row.

Running total down column.
Running totals option tallies values as they pile up down the
column, so that each value is a compilation of all values so far.

When you show Normal Values (left), QuickBase
shows each value and totals it at the bottom of the column.
When you choose to show Running total down column
(right), QuickBase adds each value (the actual
values
that you see in the Normal Values view on the left) to the one
that preceded it. In other words, it adds values
cumulatively to arrive at the same total at the bottom.

Running total across
crosstab. This "running totals" option works
the same way as the running totals by column works (see image
above), but this setting does its cumulative addition across
each row instead of down columns. (You can only
select this option after you turn on crosstabs. See Step 8.)

Tip: If you want to
define advanced matching criteria options that aren't possible using
the basic settings in the Report Builder's Filters section
(like setting OR matching criteria across fields), you can set up
a custom formula column to return only the records you want to summarize.
To do so, turn on the Define a calculated column checkbox
in the Summarize Data section,
then create the custom column. Read
how.

Select row groupings.

How to you want to break down your numbers? In a summary report,
each row is really a group of records. Choose the field you want to
group by. When you do, each value in that field displays as a row
in your report. For example, to create the summary
report above, you'd select the Opportunity Status field in order
to break down results by status, as illustrated.

If you want, you can even group rows by a second field. The second
group setting is "nested" within the first. However, if
you try this, you'll notice that you lose the calculations (total,
average or whatever) on the first group. But, you need those figures
for your boss! Fret not. Crosstabs, which you'll read about next,
will let you display it all together and save your job.

Organize your row groupings.

In the dropdown to the right of each selection you made in the preceding
step, tell QuickBase how to organize your row groups, by making a
selection in the corresponding Combine dropdown.
Selections here depend upon what field you chose to group by. For
instance, if you chose a date field, QuickBase lets you group records
by day, week, month, year, quarter or decade. Fields that contain
text content, like names, can be grouped alphabetically or by Equal
Values, meaning that QuickBase will create a single row for
each unique entry.

If you want, group columns by a specific field (in other words,
add cross tabulation, or crosstabs).

If you want to include information from additional fields, enhance
your view with crosstabs. Crosstabs are just groups of columns gathered
under a field value. To do so, go to the Grouping and crosstabs
section and select the Group columns radio button.
Click the Group by dropdown and select the field
you want to group columns by. Then tell QuickBase how to break down
values in this field, by making a selection in the Combine
dropdown. Again, selections here depend upon what field you chose
to group by. For instance, if you chose a date field, QuickBase lets
you group records by day, week, month, year, quarter or decade.

As discussed in Step 6, if you try to group rows by a secondary
field,
you lose calculations (in this case totals) on your highest level group
(here that's Opportunity Status, which appeared in the summary
report above.)
You can fix this with crosstabs, shown below.

Instead of using that secondary field to group rows, use it
to group columns by creating crosstabs. Not only will you gain calculations
grouped by that field, you'll also retain calculations on your original
row groupings (outlined in red).

Tip: Each cell in a
crosstab report represents records that meet a combination of two
variables. For example, $214,000 is the total deal
size of all opportunities that meet both the following criteria: Sales
Rep is Chris Baker and Opportunity Status is
Active Opportunity. That number is a cross tabulation.

If you're not using crosstabs, you can set a custom sort order.

The report is automatically sorted according to the selections you
made in Step 5. If you want change the field the report sorts on,
you can. However, your additional choices are limited to selections
you made in the Summarize Data section. To change
the sort order from within the Sorting section, click
Custom order. Then choose another field from the
dropdown list.

Tell QuickBase what records you want to see.

You don't always want to see all the records in the table. You can
tell QuickBase to only show you certain ones by setting specific criteria
within the Filters section. Read
how.

Set advanced report options with formulas.
If you're a fan of formulas, you'll be happy learn that you can design
your report with formulas too. Within Additional Options,
click Custom options, and turn on the Define
a custom formula for this report. QuickBase displays formula
setting controls. (Learn
more about using formulas.)

Preview the chart and make edits, if necessary.

Click
Display to view the results of your modifications. If you
don't like the results, click the Customize button
at the top of the page to return to the Report Builder.

Save the report. To do so, you will need to supply a name for
the report, and whether you're saving the report as Personal (only
you can view it) or Common
(others can view it).

If you've displayed the report, you can save without returning
to the Report Builder. To do so, go to the prompt by the report
title and click Save as.

To display and save at the same time from within the Report
Builder, click Save.

About saving Common reports:
You can only save a common report if the manager of the application
has granted you permission to do so. When you save a common report,
you don't need to allow absolutely everyone access to it. QuickBase
prompts you to select the roles that should see it. To share with
all application users, select All Roles. (An Application
Manager can change which reports a particular role can access at any
time. To learn how, see Specifying
Which reports a User Can Access.) To help others understand what
your report shows, type in a description. If you want the description
to display above the report, turn on the Show description
on report page checkbox.